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Wear-resistant spherical and linear bearings in Niles Simmons machine tools

Sliding and friction-optimised polymer bearings enable long service lives at low costs

Today, polymer bearings are installed in a wide variety of places in machine tools and machining centres. For example, innovative hybrid bearings for the guidance of sliding magazine doors, rotary table bearings for moving control panels or spherical plain bearings for the deflection of toothed belt drives. They are lightweight, robust and lubrication-free and do not need to be greased or oiled like metal bushings. Due to the high complexity of today's machines, Niles-Simmons Industrieanlagen GmbH places the highest demands on the individual components and involves its suppliers in the design process at an early stage. Today, the plant manufacturer relies on igus® products for many important machine parts.

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Other products for machine tools
Operator panels

Giving machines a face of their own: even the control panel on this machine tool from Niles-Simmons Industrieanlagen GmbH, Chemnitz, was designed in-house. It can be easily rotated and lifting movements can be realised.

Problem

The international company Niles-Simmons Industrieanlagen GmbH focuses its business activities on the research, development, manufacture and sale of machine tools. The mechanical engineering company's philosophy is to manufacture products of the highest quality and innovation and to market them globally. Around 350 employees work at the main site in Chemnitz, with over 1,100 employees worldwide within the entire NSH Group.
The company's multi-product range is specifically based on six different machine concepts, divided between the aerospace, automotive and railway industries, general mechanical engineering and tool and mould making. Typical products include horizontal CNC lathes, CNC turning-milling-drilling machining centres and high-precision milling centres. The NSH Group also plans and realises complete production lines for the automotive industry as well as workshops for the repair and manufacture of railway wheelsets. Thanks to the modular design and the possibility of incorporating additional units, the machines are designed and manufactured to meet the customer's part-specific requirements. The machining centres for a wide range of workpiece sizes have a compact, very ergonomic and user-friendly design. This is complemented by excellent service and maintenance friendliness.
Today, igus® products are used in a wide variety of system components. Most of the elements in the machines are subject to many movement cycles and must therefore be particularly lubrication and maintenance-free. Wear-resistant parts that can keep up with the constantly repetitive work processes are also in demand here.

Solution

The machine and plant manufacturer has been working with igus® for many years. Numerous igus® products are installed in the machine tools and machining centres of Niles-Simmons. In addition to customised plastic-energy chains , these also include "drylin® W" -linear guide with polymer sliding elements that are suspended in the machine room. Furthermore, igubal ® spherical plain bearings as well as hybrid linear bearings and polymer sle wing ring bearings are used for various auxiliary movements.
Niles-Simmons now uses lubrication- and maintenance-free iglidur® polymer slewing ring bearings to move the control panels. The support arm system for the control panels was previously purchased as a complete unit from a supplier. However, as the customers of Niles-Simmons wanted to give "their own face", the decision was made to design their own control panel, which would also visually match the respective machining centre. This should be easy to turn and it must be possible to realise lifting movements. Today, two polymer rotary table bearings are each used as a complete unit in the newly designed control panel. The polymer sliding elements are made from the material "iglidur® J". In addition to the main benefit of being lubrication and maintenance-free, the rotary table bearings are highly wear-resistant. Furthermore, the low coefficient of friction ensures a low actuating force when swivelling the desk.
Another advantage is the simple dismantling and assembly of the control panels, as the rotary table bearings form a complete unit. This saves a lot of time when assembling the module, which is simply screwed on. In the case of the control panel described, a special bearing is used. If someone leans improperly on the control panel, high torques act on the bearing. The special bearings absorb a much higher load so that the customer is always on the safe side.

Sliding magazine doors

Sliding magazine doors on machine tools and machining centres: On the one hand, customers today want them not to be too smooth-running. At the same time, however, the force required to slide them open must not be too great.

Sliding magazine doors

Innovative hybrid linear bearing (centre image) for the guidance of the sliding magazine doors. The main load is on the roller bearing, which reduces the required drive torque. The plastic glides absorb any lateral forces.

igus® Hybrid linear bearing for sliding magazine doors

Another example of tribologically optimised plastic solutions is the hybrid linear bearing for the safe guidance of sliding magazine doors. All machine tools and machining centres are equipped with such sliding doors. The magazine houses are completely dismantled for transport, including all guidance, and reassembled at the customer's premises with as little adjustment work as possible. The customer requests that the sliding doors should not be too easy to move. At the same time, however, the force required to slide them open must not be too great. Hybrid linear bearings really come into their own with these so-called subordinate movements. They must not tilt, should be quiet and also lubrication- and maintenance-free.
The new hybrid linear bearings "drylin® WJRM" reduce drive force, particularly in manual door, safety gate, sliding door and interlock adjustments. They combine the specific advantages of sliding and rolling movements. The main load is on the roller bearing, which reduces the required drive torque. The plastic glides absorb any lateral forces. In this application too, the main weight when moving the working door is on the roller. In addition, the installation space is extremely limited. The hybrid linear bearing measures just 18 mm in height. It is used as a single rail in the magazine sliding doors. The aluminium profile, which is part of the system, pays off in the event of modifications. It can be easily reworked, holes can be set or cut to length.

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